Disappearing handle for suitcases, valises, and the like



H. J. CHILTON.

DISAPPEARING HANDLE FOR SUITCASES, VALISES, AND THE LIKE.

' APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 23,1915. 1,343,195. PatentedJune 15,1920.

UNITED STATES HENRY acnrnron, or cHrcAeo, rumors.

DISAPPEARING HANDLE FOR SUITCASES, VALISES, AND THE LIKE.

Specification of 'Letters Patent.

Patented June 15, 1920.

Application filed September 23, 1915. Serial No. 52,178.

I To all whom it may concern:

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in disappearing handles for suitcases, satchels, traveling bags, sample cases, and the like. Among thesalient objects of the invention are to provide a construction in whicha suit case, valise, or other similar article when not in use has noprojecting handle or other gripping member by which it may be lifted andcarried away; to provide a constriuct1on in which the ordinary su1t caseor valise handle is so secured to the article in question as to beinclosed and locked within the interior of the suit case, valise orother article, whereby the latter is effectively locked and proofagainstbeing lifted or carried away; to provide a construction in whichthe hinge supports for the handle are so mounted that they maybeentirely c011- cealed within the suit case or valise or similar articlewhen the handle is swung into its inoperative position, and which whenthe handle is in use serve as centering and strengthening members forthe meeting edges of the article to which they are attached; to providea construction in which the hinge supports are so arranged as to relievethe meeting rails or edges of the article from undue strain when sucharticle is lifted; to provide a construction which does not interferewith the normal operation or use of the handle when the valise is inunlocked position; to provide a construction which is not only adaptedfor use with any well known type of valise, traveling bag, suit case, orthe like, but which can also be readily attached to an old suit case,valise, or-thelike, without in any way'reconstructing such article, asfor example, changing the key lock, catches or "other locking means; toprovide a constructlon in which the hinge supporting members also serveas catches when the handle is in use, thus obviating the necessity ofother catches or devices of this character; to provide a constructionin'which the handle when not in use folds fiat into the suit case oranalo-' gous article, and does not take" up any ap type of construction.

preciable amount of room within the arti 'cle; to provide a constructionwhich not only does not detract -fromthe appearances of the suitcase orsatchel; but can be easily constructed so as to add to its attractiveness ;'to provide a construction in which the hinge supports proper arepreferably'e'ach made from a single piece of fiat metal and which can bevery economically manufac tured; to provide a construction which isdevoid of any complicated or delicate mechanism, and which is adapted towithstand the ordinary rough usage to which devices of this characterare put, and in general to PIOVldG an improved construction of thecharacter referred to.

In the drawings V Figure 1 is a perspective view of avalise equippedwith my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing the handle in itsoperative position; 7

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing thehandle in its inoperative position,folded within the article; 7 i

Fig. 4 is a detail view showing one of the hinge members detached. 1

In the present instance my device is shown as applied to a valise ortraveling bag-although as above stated it may be-applied to many otherarticles. 1

Referring to the drawings- 1 designates a valise having the meetingrails 2 and '3 and ordinary key lock 4 of any well known Secured to theinner face of the rail 3 are hinge blocks 5 having pintle eyes 6 whichit will be noted lie adjacent the edge of the flange 7 of the rail 3.

In each of these pintle eyes is mounted a pintle pin or pivot pin 8 tothe protruding ends of which are connected as shown at 9, a forkedextension 10 of the movable-hinge member 11, the ends of theextension'lObeing apertured to fit over the pintle pin. At

its upper end this movablehinge. member is opening between these twoplates'12 and'13 serving as a centering iaw'to fit over the opposed railmember 2 when the device is'in closed position. On the upper face ofeach members are secured Wear plates 18' which bent outwardly as shownat 12, and then e 'bentback upon itself as shown at 13, the

projects above the upper edge of the valise as shown in Fig. 1. Whenthevalise isnot in use,- and forexample is set down 1n a public placesuch as a railway station, the va out a handle.

lise is opened and the handle swung into the interior of the valise, thelatter is then closed and if desired locked with a key. This is allthere is to the operation of the device.

Anyone attempting to carry off the suit case, valise or the like'withoutopening the valise and swinging the handle up into position, as there'isno other gripping member on the article by which it can be carried orlifted, nor is there any projecting part by which a detachable handlecan be secured, would be open to grave suspicion. The lat ter isparticularly true for the reason that not only the handle but its entiresupporting members are swung out of sight into the interior of thearticle in question. It is of course very apparent that to raise the bagand carry it off bodily would attract suspicion.

By the term traveling bag as used in the claims ismeant to include suitcases, satchels, sample cases and the like; his to be noted that thisinvention relates to bags or to the like of such character that they Icannot be conveniently carried without the handle so that'when thehandle is in it's inoperative position, there .is no means. for readilyor easily carrying the bag. The invention is not intended for use onsmall articles such as ladies purses, ladies hand bags and the likewhich are of such a size and character that they can be carried with- IIt is to be furthernoted that I combine with the mechanism for placingthe handle in inoperative position and inclosed within the bag means forpositively locking the bag in such closed position as distinguished frommere securing catches or the like.

The invention is not limited to the details of construction shown exceptas set. forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a'portable case, of a carrying handle therefor,hinged supports for-connecting the handle to the case,

said supports and handle being mounted to swing into the interior of thecase, where by they may be entirely concealed within saidcase;

2. The combination with a portable traveli-ng bag,of a carryinghandletherefor, and

edges and handle supporting connections so mounted as to permit thehandle and connections being moved into the-bag and locked therein. y

4E. The combination with a hand baggage case having their meeting edgesadapted to I be locked together, of a handle therefor and a hingedsupport. secured to the inner side of one of said meeting edges andhaving an offset portion secured to said handle whereby said hinge andhandle may be swung entirely into the case when the latter is not inuse.

5. The combination with a traveling bag,

of a. size adaptable to handle traveling efv fects and having mechanismfor locking the meeting edges together, of ahandle having its endsconnectedtooneo-f said meeting edges at the central part of the latter,said connections when the handle is in operative position embracing saidmeeting edges and -adapted to move with the handle when in inoperativeposition into the bag, and be locked therein. r

6. A fitting for a traveling bag, having meetlng edges, comprising asupporting member secured to one meeting edge and.

projecting inwardly therefrom and a movable member pivotally connectedto the inwardly projecting part of the stationary member and having asubstantially U-shaped portion adapted to fit around said meeting edgeand provided with a handle carrying portion whereby the handle may bemoved into or out of the interior of the bag. I

7. In a traveling bag, the combination with members having meetingedges, of a stationary support attached to one of said members,connections movably secured to the support and a handle carried by thecon nections and adapted to be swung into and out of the bag, andlocking mechanism for simultaneously locking the meeting edges togetherand the handle in inoperative position concealed within the bag.

8. In a traveling bag, the combination with twomembers havingmeetingedges, of a lock attached to one member :midway between the endsof said meeting edges for locking the latter together, handle support-"ing means secured to one of said members on either side of the lock,movable connections having operative relation with thesupporting'meansand adapted to receive a-handle whereby the latter maybemoved into or-out of the bag.

ling bag. the: aanaa m with two members having meeting edges, ofsupporting means attached to one of said members, movable connectionshaving an operative relation with the supporting means and extendingaround one of said meeting edges When in operative position and a handlesecured to said connections and adapted to move into the bag when theconnections are in inoperative position.

10. In a traveling bag of a size inconven-' ient to carry otherwise thanby a handle,.

the combination with opposed meeting edges of a stationary support,attached to one of said edges, a handle movably connected to the supportand adapted to be swung into and out of the bag, and means for lockingthe meeting edges together and the handle in inoperative position withinthe bag.

11. A traveling bag having a frame composed of two portions which may beopened topermit of access to the interior of the bag, and closed toprevent access thereto, said frames having imperforate edges, a handlesecured to one of said frames and arranged to be moved from the interiorof the bag to the exterior thereof into substantial alinement with saidframe, and the other frame being movable into alinement with the firstmentioned frame when said handle is arranged in said-last namedposition.

12. A traveling bag having a frame composed of two portions which may beopened to permit of access to the interior of the bag, and closed toprevent access thereto, a ban dle secured to one of said frames andarranged to be moved from the exterior of the bag to the interiorthereof, and said frame presenting an imperforate exterior face when thehandle is placed within the bag? 13. In a traveling bag the combinationof a handle therefor, the handle being arranged to be moved into and outof the interior of the bag, a frame, the handle being connected to theframe and the frame being imperforate in the path of movement of thehandle.

14. A traveling bag having a frame, a fitting secured to the frame, oneend of the fitting being connected to the frame and constructed to bemoved interiorly and exteriorly of the bag, and said frame beingimperforate in the path of movement of the fitting.

15. In a traveling bag, the combination of a handle therefor, the handlebeing arranged to be moved into and out of the in-- terior of the bag, aframe, the handle being connected to the frame and the frame being 17.The combination with an article of the class described, of a handle andcoupling members associated with opposite ends thereof for connectingthe same to the article, said coupling members being pivotally connectedat corresponding ends within the article.

18. In an article of the class described having one marginal edgeportion of the opening thereinto underlying the companpath of movementof the ion marginal edge portion of said opening,

.when the article is closed, of a handle for the article pivotallysupported from the inner side of said underlying marginal edge.

portion and adapted to occupy a position within the article when it isclosed and a second position outside of the article and above saidmarginal edge portions.

19. In an article of the class described having one marginal edgeportion of the opening thereinto underlying the companion marginal edgeportion when the article is closed, of a handle, coupling memberspivotally supported at corresponding ends from the underlying edgeportion in a vertical plane substantially intersecting the longitudinalaxis of the article, said coupling members being connected at their freeends to the handle and being adapted to swing about their pivots tobring said free ends into a position within the article and into asecond position outside of the article and above the marginal edgeortions.

HENR J. CHILTON.

